Boeing 737 MAX service reentry to fuel conversion feedstock availability

[caption id="attachment_415077" align="alignright" width="407"] A United 737 MAX 9. Photo/United.[/caption] Brazil-based Gol Airlines became the first airline to return the 737 MAX 8 to commercial service on Dec. 9, after the airframe’s twenty-month grounding. Boeing has commenced delivering aircraft that are already assembled and started ramping up from what is currently low-rate production for the model. Feedstock availability for newer conversion types will accelerate as the MAX replaces older narrowbody models including 737 NGs and A320 family aircraft . Gol plans to resume operating the seven 737 MAX aircraft in its fleet before the month is over. Other carriers such as American Airlines have announced plans to resume operating the 737 MAX before the end of the year. On Dec. 8, Boeing delivered the first 737 MAX since ungrounding to United Airlines. United does not plan to operate the platform until next year. Boeing, meanwhile, has plenty of deliveries to catch up on. At the end of September, the company had about 450 assembled 737 Max aircraft that had not yet been delivered. “We now expect delivery of about half of the aircraft currently in storage by the end of next year, and the majority of the remaining in the following year,“ said Gregory Smith, executive vice president of Enterprise Operations and CFO of Boeing, during an Oct. 28 earnings call. With a focus on delivering and, where necessary, reconfiguring units that have already been assembled, low-rate production will continue through the end of the year. Gradual production rate increases will bring rates up to thirty-one aircraft per month by early 2022, according to a Q3 earnings release. As of Sept. 30, Boeing’s 737 MAX backlog stood at 3,400 units. In a reversal from a string of cancellations for the model, Ryanair on Dec. 3 expressed its confidence in the recertified aircraft by signing an order for seventy-five additional 737 MAX units. The COVID-19 crisis has already increased feedstock availability for most popular conversion types. The return to service of the MAX will keep the pipeline of 737 NG retirements flowing. “The grounding of the 737 MAX has impacted [the market] a lot,” said Scot Struminger, EVP and CEO Aviation at FedEx Express, during the 2020 Cargo Facts Symposium. Many carriers looking to upgrade to the 737-800 from the 737-400 deferred their plans while the aircraft was grounded. Even though there are no 737 MAX aircraft in cargo configuration, “the airline world is a small world, and we're all connected,” Struminger said.

Boeing 737 MAX service reentry to fuel conversion feedstock availability

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